For hundreds of anglers who gather on the ice of Black, Burt, and Mullett lakes each February, the pursuit of Michigan's largest game fish approaches obsession. Those anglers claim that spearing sturgeon through the ice is the most exciting experience of their sporting lives, exceeding even the thrill of stalking trophy whitetails.

With its short season--limited only to the 28 or 29 days of February-- and its strict limit of one fish per angler per season, you might wonder what all the fuss is about. But get a sturgeon afficianado talking and all doubt is lost. He is absolutely passionate about his favorite sport.

The secret to any sturgeon spearer's success is persistance. Lee McCay, a building contractor from Onaway, arranges his business each year so that he has no obligations during the month of February. He then spends virtually every daylight hour of every day sitting in his shanty on Black Lake, watching through the ice for the heart-stopping entry of a giant. His patience paid off on the 25th of February a couple years ago, when, after not seeing a fish for 25 days, a 94-pound sturgeon swam slowly within spearing range.

"It looked huge," he recalls. "It was just like deer hunting. I wasn't excited until I threw the spear and hit it. Then it was like having buck fever--I was shaking and my heart was thumping. It's hard to explain, but after all those hours you spend waiting and watching, suddenly it's there. What a feeling."

In a good year 15 or 20 sturgeon will be taken from Black Lake, and another half-dozen might be speared from Burt and Mullett lakes. The success rate varies greatly, however, depending on the clarity of Black Lake water. In a year with strong autumn winds and heavy rain the water will remain discolored much of the winter, reducing visibility dramatically.

The Black Lake Hotel, the headquarters for sturgeon anglers in the area, has kept records of successful anglers for many years. Curled and yellowing photos show men, women, and children standing beside sturgeon hung like trophy bucks from poles in front of the hotel. Tote boards list fish, their weights and lengths, and the names of successful anglers. Most years, the sturgeon average 60 or 70 pounds, but one or two fish will exceed 120 pounds and sometimes weigh as much as the 164-pounder taken by Gail Scharffe in 1985. The state record, 193 pounds, was speared from Mullett Lake in 1974 by Joe Maka, Jr. of Grand Haven.

Probably the most successful sturgeon spearer in Michigan is Boyd Crist, who has been chasing sturgeon since he and his wife, Doris, opened a motel and tackle shop near the shore of the lake in 1948. In his 40 years of fishing he has taken about 75 fish, with the largest a six-feet, 8-inch long, 140-pounder in 1949.

"The sturgeon is a peculiar fish," he says. "Sometimes they'll lay in the same spot for two weeks without moving, and sometimes they'll swim the entire length of the lake in one day. You just never know, which I guess is part of the appeal of the sport."

Crist has made a business of the sturgeon season, and currently rents 14 shanties on Black Lake. The shanties come equipped with everything required--spears, decoys, heaters--and anglers are given a ride from shore in Boyd's Ford LTD.

It seems illogical that fish-shaped decoys would attract a bottom-feeder like the sturgeon. Boyd Crist is convinced sturgeon are made curious by the sight of a large, garrishly painted creature swimming in circles near bottom, and come close to investigate. Accordingly, he carves his own decoys, making them up to 24-inches in length, and usually paints them white with red markings to make them highly visible. Convinced that slow movements attract more sturgeon than fast ones, Boyd often spins the decoy while still in the shanty, winding up the cord until it is twisted in knots, then lowering it near the bottom to unwind slowly.

Like many other veteran Black Lake fishermen, Crist fashions his own spears, 16 to 24 inches wide, with long, sturdy tines. Many anglers equip their shanties with two spears--one for the initial throw, one to back it up in case a fish is not struck securely or proves to be difficult to land.

By all accounts, landing a sturgeon is far from easy. Typically, the fish will not fight hard until it reaches the surface of the water, then will do everything possible to keep from being lifted into the shanty and onto the ice. If an angler is in a cluster of shanties, he'll often call for help from his neighbors--two or three men can wrestle a fish out of the water much easier than one.

At one time, Michigan's sturgeon population was so large that they were considered a nuisance fish. In the 19th century it was common practice to spear the fish as they ascended rivers to spawn each spring, tossing them with pitchforks into wagons to be taken home and used as garden fertilizer. In the early 20th century, when the demand for caviar exploded, Great Lakes sturgeon were harvested at such an alarming rate that they were quickly threatened with extinction. It took extreme protective measures to save them.

Those measures paid off, however, and the population in the Great Lakes quickly rebounded to encouraging levels. More encouraging yet was the population of fish that had been landlocked in inland lakes by the construction of power dams. Burt, Mullett, and Black lakes had long hosted runs of Great Lakes sturgeon passing through on their way up the Cheboygan River to tributary rivers like the Black, Pigeon, and Sturgeon. Trapped in the lakes, the fish thrived and local sportsmen began to recognize their value as game fish.

Today, DNR biologists are convinced that the short spearing season and one-fish limit on sturgeon does nothing to hurt the population of the large fish. With careful management, there is every reason to believe that the population will remain healthy indefinitely.

Sturgeon are only rarely caught on hook and line. Every year a few are taken in Lake St. Clair and the St. Clair River, usually by anglers after walleyes or other fish. A friend of mine once caught a five-footer at the mouth of the Boardman River in Traverse City, while casting spawn bags for steelhead. Stories are told of occasional Black Lake sturgeon hooked on tip-ups or on lures trolled by boaters in the summer. But those incidents are rare. The only dependable way to tangle with the bottom-feeding sturgeon is to lay in wait for it with decoy and spear.

Photographer Craig Date and I passed a morning late one recent February sitting in a shanty owned by Clark Chapman of Onaway. It was presumptuous to think that we could see a sturgeon on our first attempt, but we tried, filled with excitement and anticipation. We were positioned over 18 feet of water, and the bottom, at that depth, was murky and featureless. Clark had dropped potato peelings to the bottom and they glowed a magnified, ghostly white that would highlight the black shape of a passing fish. Clark had not seen a sturgeon yet that year, but Bill Lee, in a shanty 100 feet away, had seen two the week before the season opened, while he was waiting for pike and muskie.

We sat there. We jigged the wooden decoy, sometimes allowing it to pause and rest on the end of its line, other times jigging it with long pulls to make it swim in circles. In an hour we came to knew every detail on the bottom of the lake, and our attention began to wander. We hefted the spear and recoiled its cord on the floor, out of the way of stray feet and Thermos bottles. We examined the cupboards Clark had built, opened and closed the small windows, peeked out into the blinding white daylight to see if other anglers had any success. In the warm stove glow we grew sleepy and had to take turns walking around outside to stay awake. It occurred to us that anyone who could pass all day, every day of the month doing this had to be extremely dedicated.

Boyd Crist, Lee McCay, and other Black Lake regulars have that kind of dedication. They're on the lake every day, scheming and dreaming, hoping for a chance at a trophy, for even a glimpse of this enormous, ugly, mysterious fish. Why do they do it?

If we have to ask, I guess we'll never know.

If You Go:

An excellent time to try for sturgeon is during the annual Sturgeon Shivaree held at the Onaway State Park on the south end of the lake during the last weekend of February each year. For details contact the Onaway Area Chamber of Commerce, State Street, Onway, MI 49765.

For fishing information, supplies and shanty rental, contact Boyd Crist at 616/625-2474.